The Ladies' Vase eBook

“Woman,” to use the words of an accomplished
living writer, “has been sent on a higher mission
than man; it may be a more arduous, a more difficult
one. It is to manifest and bring to a full development
certain attributes which belong, it is true, to our
common nature, but which, owing to man’s peculiar
relation to the external world, he could not so well
bring to perfection. Man is sent forth to subdue
the earth, to obtain command over the elements, to
form political communities; and to him, therefore,
belong the more hardy and austere virtues; and as they
are made subservient to the relief of our physical
wants, and as their results are more obvious to the
senses, it is not surprising that they have acquired
in his eyes an importance which does not in strictness
belong to them. But humility, meekness, gentleness,
love, are also important attributes of our nature,
and it would present a sad and melancholy aspect without
them. But let us ask, will man, with his present
characteristic propensities, thrown much more than
woman, by his immediate duties, upon material things;
obliged to be conversant with objects of sense, and
exposed to the rude conflicts which this leads to;
will he bring out these virtues in their full
beauty and strength? We think not—­even
with the assistance which religion promises. These
principles, with many others linked with them, have
been placed more particularly in the keeping of woman;
her social condition being evidently more favorable
to their full development.”

Let us ever remember that every aggregate number,
however great, is composed of units; and of course,
were each American female but faithful to her
God, to her family, and to her country, then would
a mighty, sanctified influence go forth through the
wide extent of our beloved land, diffusing moral health
and vigor through every part, and strengthening it
for the endurance of greater trials than have as yet
menaced its existence. A spirit of insubordination
and rebellion to lawful authority pervades our land;
and where are these foes effectually to be checked,
if not at their fountain head—­in the nursery?
Oh! if every American mother had but labored faithfully
in that sacred inclosure, from the period of our revolutionary
struggle, by teaching her children the great lesson
of practical obedience to parental authority; then
would submission to constituted authority, as well
as to the will of God, have been far more prevalent
in our land, and the whole aspect of her affairs would
have been widely different.

How much more honorable to woman is such a position,
than that in which some modern reformers have endeavored
to place her, or rather force her. Instead
of seeking hopelessly, and in direct opposition to
the delicacy of her sex, to obtain for her political
privileges; instead of bringing her forward as the
competitor of man in the public arena; we would mark
out for her a sphere of duty that is widely different.